Fast Danya, Shoveller Jean, Small Will, Kerr Thomas
Ethnographic Youth Research Coordinator, British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, Canada.
Professor, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Hum Organ. 2013 Summer;72(2):98-110. doi: 10.17730/humo.72.2.86005462778382u2.
The language of community is ubiquitous in academic, public health, and policy discourse about drug using populations. Yet, it has been argued that in some settings, the parameters of "the drug user community" are far from self-evident. We undertook this ethnographic investigation to explore experiences and understandings of a "drug user community" (sometimes referred to more specifically as a "street youth community") among young people entrenched in Vancouver's inner city drug scene. Our findings revealed that in this context, conventional notions of community-that is, a social network characterized by commonality, mutual responsibility, solidarity, and/or stability-resonated with some youth. However, most questioned the value of membership within this community, in which what they had in common with other youth were ongoing experiences of poverty, marginalization, and social exclusion. Many felt membership in the drug user community precluded their ability to be responsible and productive citizens within the wider community of "mainstream society." Experiences of resource deprivation and everyday violence on the streets led many participants to emphasize the limited possibilities for community among their peers. We argue that it is important to critically examine heretofore essentializing assumptions about the nature of inner city drug user or street youth communities in order to better understand young people's needs and desires in these settings.
在有关吸毒人群的学术、公共卫生及政策讨论中，“社群”这一说法随处可见。然而，有人认为，在某些情况下，“吸毒者社群”的界定远非显而易见。我们开展了这项人种志调查，以探究深陷温哥华市中心吸毒环境的年轻人对“吸毒者社群”（有时更具体地称为“街头青年社群”）的体验与认知。我们的研究结果显示，在此背景下，社群的传统概念——即一个以共性、相互责任、团结和/或稳定为特征的社会网络——在一些年轻人中引起了共鸣。然而，大多数人质疑在这个社群中成员身份的价值，在这个社群里，他们与其他年轻人的共同之处是持续不断的贫困、边缘化和社会排斥经历。许多人觉得，吸毒者社群的成员身份使他们无法在“主流社会”这个更广泛的社群中成为有责任感、有作为的公民。街头资源匮乏和日常暴力的经历让许多参与者强调同龄人之间社群形成的可能性有限。我们认为，重要的是要批判性地审视迄今为止对市中心吸毒者或街头青年社群本质的本质主义假设，以便更好地理解这些环境中年轻人的需求和愿望。
